


Pride/Vanity

by GoldBlooded



Series: Tumblr Deadly Sin Challenge [3]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Ficlet, Seven Deadly Sins, Stucky - Freeform, Tumblr Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-24 00:50:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13799895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldBlooded/pseuds/GoldBlooded
Summary: Part of a Tumblr Ficlet Challenge featuring the Seven Deadly Sins.Bucky knew from age twelve that he was pretty good-looking.





	Pride/Vanity

Bucky knew from age twelve that he was pretty good-looking. Girls paid him more attention than the other boys, especially Steve.

(He liked the attention, but was constantly irritated that his best guy was overlooked. Steve was so _pretty,_ how could they not see it?)

Bucky found that life was easier when you’re good-looking, even more so when you added a dash of charm. All the dames were eager for him to take them out, jobs were easier to get when the boss was impressed by ‘fine, upstanding young men,' teachers gave him a little more leeway with homework because he was a good student and made their lives a little easier.

And really, adding a little swagger to his step and charm to his smile was the easiest thing in the world, Bucky was surprised everyone didn’t do it. 

Bucky also kept up on his appearance, whether he was in shirtsleeves for work, or a three-piece suit for a night out, it didn’t matter. His clothes were well cared-for, pressed and starched, and always fit him perfectly. 

Every morning, as he’d stood in front of the bathroom mirror, combing Brylcreem through his hair, Steve would casually throw over to him, “Pride’s gonna be your downfall, Buck.”

At which point Bucky would grin and offer to Brylcreem Steve’s unruly hair which Steve turned down on the basis that it made his scalp itch - but Bucky knew for a fact that wasn’t true.

Bucky loved being handsome, and he was really good at it.

…Until he wasn’t. Until he wasn’t anything anymore, and it was just compliance and frost and the Chair.

Seventy years of torture, murder, and other unspeakably horrible things later, Bucky barely knew how to exist, let alone care about himself. There was so much noise in his head, he couldn’t focus on anything except untangling it.

Then one lonely day in Bucharest, he walked along and saw his reflection in a storefront window. His long hair was ratty, the split-ends and uneven layers giving him the look of a drowned rat. That was unacceptable, he thought, and stopped in the next barber shop he came across. 

This happened to be a salon, actually, and the stylist urged him to keep some length and just clean the whole look up. She said the length suited him, brought out the strength of his jawline, so he said yes. And when she finished and he looked in the mirror, something in his chest unclenched. He looked more… himself.

Whoever that was.

A couple of years later, when he and Steve were sharing a floor in the Tower, Bucky had taken to pulling his hair into some pretty nice buns. They were a little messier than regular buns, but coupled with the stubble on his face, Bucky thought it brought out a rakishness to him that he’d been missing. 

One morning, when Bucky was struggling with his hair and was redoing the bun for the third time, Steve just sighed and said, “Pride’s gonna be your downfall, Buck.”

Bucky continued battling the wild strands of his hair, and didn’t even bother to look at the blond before grinning crookedly and automatically responding, “You want me to Brylcreem your hair too, Stevie?”

To which Steve automatically scrunched his nose and said, “You know it makes my scalp itch.”

Then there was a beat, a moment where they both stilled.

“That’s been a damn lie for 80 years, Rogers, when are you gonna get with the program?” Bucky asked, grinning for real now.

Steve grinned back and came to lean against the doorway. “When you get it through your thick skull that Brylcreem in my hair meant you’d never touch it.”

Bucky paused for another moment, then ran his fingers through Steve’s blond spikes, and pulled his lover close.

“You have a good point,” he ghosted over Steve’s lips, before kissing him sweetly.

**Author's Note:**

> Come [Tumble](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/duelingnebulas) with me!


End file.
